


Patellar Tendonitis

by I_have_horrible_writers_block



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, He's trying tho, Hurt/Comfort, I am tired, Injured Oikawa Tooru, It's 4:55 am right now and I am tired, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Fluff, M/M, My cat has taken over my legs, Oikawa Tooru is Bad at Feelings, Oikawa has patellar tendonitis, SOS, covering up feelings, forgive my writing, iwa to the rescue, iwaoi - Freeform, jumper's knee, patellar tendonitis, self doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25666108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_have_horrible_writers_block/pseuds/I_have_horrible_writers_block
Summary: Oikawa isn't following his treatment properly for his Jumper's Knee (patellar tendonitis {hence the title}) and is suffering from the consequences. He hides the physical pain from his teammates in fear of letting them down and is trying to just get through it. This doesn't really work that good.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 6
Kudos: 193





	Patellar Tendonitis

It never usually hurt that bad. Of course, it hurt every single second that he walked, ran, jumped, dived or just anytime his knee had to bend. But it was never too much for him to handle. It was never so bad that he couldn’t hide it. That was until a particularly rough collision with Kindaichi knocked him square on his ass. The second he hit the floor, right knee first, he felt like he couldn’t get back up, that he could never escape the shiny boards.

Everything happened so fast that he didn’t have a chance to process a single thing before he was already on the ground. Tears swiftly clouded his wide brown eyes. Flames soared from within his knee, but he refused to let out his tears. Composing himself within seconds, proved itself both difficult but rewarding. Though he only emotionally composed himself not to cry. 

With a weak, overworked, scorching knee, Oikawa was scared that if he tried to stand in front of everyone, he would fall. That all of his teammates would see the swelling behind the brace. They would realize that he was lying about being okay and his coach would be furious. 

“Fuck…” He muttered to himself.

His doctor’s note specified that Oikawa needed to go at his own pace, take breaks from high-activity sports, and try to keep his leg as straight as possible. However, volleyball is a squatting sport. 

Oikawa swore to his coach that he was listening to the recommendations, worked out accommodations with the doctor and that he was in physiotherapy. Nonetheless, the only promise that wasn’t a lie was the third. The second Oikawa was cleared, he ignored every single word of wisdom. The last thing he wanted was to weigh down the team, or to interrupt their practices for his needed breaks. As soon as he was on the court, he went straight back to his usual self, and began denying any pain caused by his decision. No matter how much it hurt.

Kindaichi and Iwaizumi were the ones who helped Oikawa back on his feet. The first year insisted that Oikawa be helped up since he had taken a bad fall, which worked for Oikawa. Their coach, not noticing which leg he fell on, and who hadn’t coached a player with Patellar Tendonitis before, told Iwaizumi to take him to a bench for five minutes.

After the five minutes were up their coach went over a list of questions, all testing Oikawa’s health. The boys had hit each other’s sides and hips and since they both landed on their asses head injuries were off the table. Quickly, he was cleared and playing again. Hiding injuries had become a little too easy for Oikawa since his paranoia of letting his team down never seemed to back off. But that bench break was needed, a longer one would’ve been better, but at least he got the five minutes. 

Funnily enough, Oikawa was on the same gym floor again just a couple of hours later. Which was not how he wanted to spend his Friday. He usually handled locking up the gym, so he stayed later than the others. On his way out, the burning sensation in his right knee had finally convinced him to sit down on the floor. He sat with his back against a wall, head leaning back, left leg bent and resting parallel to his chest, right leg laying straight and parallel to the floor, left arm hugging his chest, right arm muffling his cries. 

Tears streamed down his cheeks, through his muffled cries. Not only did his knee feel like it was burning, but the rest of his body was aching from the exhausting practice. Everything hurt and nothing felt right. His nerves were fried and his emotions were pouring. The tears streaming down his cheeks were caused by a mixture of physical pain and emotional stress. Feeling like a complete failure, and like he was holding everyone back only added to the stress he was under.

“Hey, Shittykawa?” Iwaizumi poked his head back into the gym before walking over to his captain, “what are you doing?”

Oikawa didn’t respond besides frantically wiping his eyes. He hoped that if no new tears trailed down his face, that Iwaizumi wouldn’t notice the past ones. It may not have been the most logistical desire, but to a sobbing teenager who feels like he’s the biggest disappointment and most invisibly alone boy in the world, it made perfect sense.

While before Iwaizumi would’ve made a critique or comment about the captain’s seemingly sudden mood swings, he simply sat down directly beside him along the wall. “Oikawa?”

Oikawa removed his hands from his face and began to cradle his left leg as he hid his face. His back arched away from the wall and he buried his head further into the dark that he was creating.

“Are you okay, Oikawa?” 

Oikawa’s right leg was still laying straight, and he tried his hardest to stop crying. Yet somehow, four simple words sprung on more sobbing. A tiny question that, including his last name, consisted of sixteen letters. It was crazy how sixteen letters started to convince a sobbing kid that he wasn’t invisible or alone. 

Resting his head against the wall, Iwaizumi listened to the frail sobs of his unannounced best friend. Without really meaning to, Iwa noticed that his hand had begun rubbing circles against Oikawa’s back. His attempts to soothe the crying boy beside him, urged Oikawa to latch onto Iwa. And so he did. While he still kept his right leg straight, Oikawa weakly latched onto Iwa for support. 

Iwa wrapped his arms around Oikawa in return and suddenly felt his heart melt at the preciously sensitive bundle of tears that delicately clung onto him. He rubbed circles, squares, triangles, and all sorts of shapes on his bundle’s back. 

“It… it really… it really…” Oikawa attempted to get out between gasps and heavy breaths, “really hurts Hajime…” 

Iwaizumi didn’t let Oikawa force another word out, and coached him through breathing to help calm him down. One Iwa deemed his breathing moderate-enough to form sentences, he started talking to him. 

“What hurts, Tooru?” 

“Everything!” 

“What do you mean?” 

“My leg! My leg hurts but I didn’t… I didn’t want to say anything because I thought everyone would hate me! And! And! My chest… my chest hurts… my brain hurts… I feel weak… and-” Oikawa upon realizing that he was confessing stopped himself, “I’m sorry…”

Iwa took a few seconds to respond because he didn’t want to say the wrong thing, “Tooru, no one is going to hate you for your leg hurting. If you need breaks, take them, no one is going to be upset, so don’t apologize. Seriously, everyone would much prefer you were healthy than give 110% every second of every practice. We care about you, alight? Oh and I think your other pains might just be from the crying and from being stressed. Now, what else were you going to tell me?” 

“Nothing.” 

“Tooru?” Iwa cupped Oikawa’s chin and raised it away from the darkness to meet his own eyes. Staring into his sparkling brown eyes, Iwa was once again reminded of why Oikawa was always called a heartthrob. Even when he was crying his eyes out he looked beautiful. 

The beautiful crying boy who Iwa was feeling mesmerized by, had been making not-so-subtle glances towards Iwa’s lips as his own curled into a sappy smile. The two boys were too secretly insecure that even with their faces just inches apart, they still couldn’t believe that they had a chance with the other. 

“I just don’t want to let you down.” Oikawa finally said after a few moments of silence. He took one last look at Iwa’s lips before looking down. 

But that look was the only one of the night that Iwa caught. Taking it upon himself to brighten the mood even just a little, he wrapped his arm a little tighter around Oikawa’s waist, and lifted his chin a little higher. 

“You could never let me down, Tooru,” Hajime whispered against Tooru’s lips before closing the gap between them. Though it was only a tiny peck, it effectively did its job, as Tooru’s smile couldn’t be wider. “C’mon, let’s get you home.”

“Hajime?” 

Hajime untangled himself from Tooru before picking him up a little weirdly so that his leg would be straight and that he wouldn’t have to walk on it. “You ready to head home?”

“You’re so sweet,” Tooru smiled, as he kissed Hajime’s cheek. “Yes, I’m ready to go. We just gotta make sure we lock up.”

For the entire way to Tooru’s house, Hajime made sure that his bundle’s leg was straight. Once they got there, he made sure it was iced and properly treated before the two of them made the collective decision that, to help Tooru, Hajime would spend the weekend with him just cuddling and kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it <3   
> Feel free to comment!


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